Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, The beginning

Time passes quickly

Elizabeth stood gazing into that of a large blazing bond fire, her mind lost in thought. Samuel and Catherine stood off to the side starring at the fire with tears in their eyes as the fire burned the remains of their parents. Darcy moved silently to the young colonel' side and observed the flicker of the flames with no abundant interest. "What will become of young Samuel and Catherine? I assume no family lives nearby." he asked casually noticing the pained look appear upon his friend's face.

"I fear Mister Darcy, that my sisters and I are the only immediate relatives. I shall have to escort them to my sister Jane and hope that our Aunt and Uncle won't have a any trouble with it. I will not allow my cousins to be put in the local orphanage it's even closer to the attacks and no one would think about adopting a child let alone two in such times as these." replied Elizabeth her head held high and her tone as expressionless as ever. Darcy was momentarily silent before he replied "We could take them to Pemberely. My sister Georgiana adores children and there is few safer places  in England than my estate."  Elizabeth was momentarily taken back before she turned to him and replied "I could not burden you with such a thing, no, I should take them to my sisters in Meryton."

Darcy looked utterly shocked before he thought carefully on what he would say next, "Miss Elizabeth forgive me but I must speak plainly." he started watching as Elizabeth's demeanor went tense with worry. He turned from impassive to imploring as he continued "You are the commanding Colonel of the Hertfordshire regiments. Your sisters Miss Jane and Miss Catherine are the only on duty Protectors of Hertfordshire remaining. Neither of you three can afford the ..... Distraction of children at such a crucial moment in time. Your duty to the crown and this country is extremely taxing making you otherwise unable to spend time with young Samuel and young Catherine. Sending them to Pemberely where they can be educated and protected while we continue to rid London and the surrounding provinces of Zombies is the best plan of action."

Darcy watched as various emotions flashed across Elizabeth's face before her face went blank and she asked "Who would escort them to your estate? It's several days by carriage from here." The experienced Colonel was momentarily silent before he replied "Colonel Fitzwilliam and I will personally escort them to my estate. Then we will continue on to Rosings our Aunt Lady Catherine De burg's estate." Elizabeth's eyes widen, momentarily taken back by the news of both his and Richards upcoming departure. "You are leaving Mister Darcy?" she asked in a surprised tone. Darcy's lips pursed slightly his hand casually resting upon the hilt of his sword at his waist. "I am afraid that in two weeks time both Richard and I are expected by our aunt at Rosings. The two of us plan to leave in eight days." he said his eyes moving to Wickham who was approaching Elizabeth's cousins.

Elizabeth frowned "There is no possible way in which we will have London safely secured in such a narrow time frame. You intend to leave me in command at such a pivotal moment in the reclaiming of this city?" she asked suddenly tense with the overwhelming apprehension of what would be expected of her. "The security of London is our utmost concern I assure you, however, I will speak to my cousin about possibly delaying our journey a fort night." replied Darcy seeing the look of panic cross her face before it was masked with some signs of relief by his words. "Thank you, please inform me when I will have to have the children ready. I must take them home."

Two weeks  passed leading both Elizabeth and Darcy to utter exhaustion, the zombie attacks had been cunning and epically irrational. Every day a different district within London was suddenly breached allowing unmentionables to surge through the streets with the hopes of catching helpless citizens and turning them. By the time the soldiers would get to the scene most unmentionables were out of sight, leaving no trail in which to track. Young Sammy and Little Catherine were placed within the palace upon the King learning of their terrible circumstances, thus allowing them to live in constant safety. Much to Elizabeth's relief. Wickham being a constant visitor to the two children however, had both Darcy and Elizabeth on edge.

But here the two colonel's were dirt dusting their cheeks as they and half of the regiment under Elizabeth moved around London's Great Wall looking for a weakness in which the zombies had to be exploiting. "There must be some tunnel, unguarded portion of the wall or something in which these unmentionables are able to move into the city through. But where?" said Elizabeth her eyes scanning the extremely tall and well fortified wall before her. They were walking toward the south wall when're hairs on both Darcy and Elizabeth's necks stood up. "Down!" hissed the colonel's at the same time.

Everyone crouched as low to the ground as possible as several hordes of  zombies stumbled their way into the clearing before them. Elizabeth's eyes narrowed at the site of several fresh undead following the horde leaders. Darcy locked eyes with her, slightly squinting in the process as the two had a silent conversation between them. Suddenly the two nodded in agreement and Darcy turned to address the soldiers who eagerly awaited orders. "Follow them! But do not engage unless you have no other choice, we will be along momentarily." he ordered in a low tone. Instantly the regiment moved to follow the undead waiting till they were far enough away before they began pursuit. Elizabeth and Darcy moved in the direction of whence the zombie horde had come, following their muddy footprints towards the heavily shrub covered wall.

They came around the corner just as a soldier began to close a hidden stone door obscured by over grown vines and shrubbery. Darcy's eyes narrowed in on the face of the soldier and found a growl moving up through his throat upon recognizing the man. Elizabeth however was unable to see him as her eyes focused on the rustling of the nearby shrubbery several feet away. She drew her sword ready for an unmentionable to appear when out came Lieutenant Wickham. "Colonel Bennet... Colonel Darcy... I was just in search of you." he said flustered his eyes darting to the sword mere inches from his neck. Darcy went thin lipped and asked "Exactly what reason did you have to leave your post and come in search of us Wickham??" the hostility in his tone was evident.

Wickham merely smiled before producing a worn letter from his coat pocket, he handed it to Darcy and replied "This arrived a couple hours ago, but I was unable to locate you until now. The rider was one of your Aunt's infamous black guards, from the look on his face I would presume your aunt is not happy about your sudden delay in traveling to Rosing's." Elizabeth and Darcy both found the urge in which to punch the man before them exceedingly tempting but the former spoke up before any irrational decisions could take place. "Return to your post Lieutenant, and be sure to never leave it again."  Darcy waited for Wickham's departure before directing his attention to Elizabeth "They aren't breaking through our defenses, one of the soldiers are helping them through a secret passage." he said making Elizabeth ask in horror "Who would do such a treacherous thing?" Darcy's eyes darken several shades as he spit out "Major Harris."

-Authors Note- So so sorry about the late update! I am now in college and the work load in addition to my actual work is making it hard to update on time. I hope you all understand that I will update as regularly as I possibly can. Please comment! Leave your thoughts, ideas and hopes! I love to read them. Thank you for reading.